Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·R A RACE OD . W C pionshipRoad Race Series . orld ham By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose JEREZ, SPAIN, MAY12 ichael Doohan's second win of the four-race-old season w as narrowly achie ved in every sense of the word. His crucia l move, the climax of a breathtaking race, came after he had trailed Repsol Honda tea mma te Alex Criville for almost the full dis tance. Dooh an forced his wa y ins ide him at the final hairpin Criville tried to hold him off, only to crash spectacularly. Bu t there was another crucial factor. Extraord inarily, overexu bera nt fans in th e big crowd of m ore th an 100,000 broke through the fences and lined the track in some sections five laps from the finish. The race sho uld have been redflagged, b ut it ran full d istanc e. The invasion played havoc with any tactical plans the riders might have had. Infu riated, Criville's team lod ged a protest against the organizers. One likely solutio n wo uld ha ve been to declare resul ts one or more lap s before the finish, w hich would have me ant Doohan getting pushed back to se cond. Th e pr otest w as withdrawn - it is und ers to od a t HRC' s sugg est ion, becaus e rewarding one Honda at the expense of an other was felt ill-ad vised. "It's their (the spectators) fault I lost th e rac e," raged th e usually reticent Criville. "They made me lose concentration. I even had a firecracker explode by me on the last lap. It was all very stupid and very dangerous." Dooh an - as were all the. riders and everyone else besides - was critical of Round4: Spanish Grand P rix the way organ izers had been un able to prevent fans moving righ t to the track as he and Cr iville continued th eir h igh s p eed battle of inches , with Luca Cadalora closin g right up beh ind as a third force. . "I'd pl anned all along to a ttac k on th e las t lap, becau se otherw ise Ale x would ju st have come bac k at m e," Doohan said. "He didn't back off wh en th e fans came on to th e tr ack, w hich meant I couldn't back off either. An d Cad alora was a th reat . Th e fans were actually on the track in some places: At least they had th e inte lligence to ge t back to the side when we came up. They must have realized a bike travelling at 200 km/ h wou ld d o m ore than give them a tickle." Crivil le 's cr as h ha nded second to Kanemoto Hon da' s Cad alora, who had led the early laps an d always been close at hand, and gave a first rostrum finish to the V-tw in Rep sol Honda of Tadayuki Okad a - better th an he'd expecte d after the ligh tweight's expec ted superiority at the tigh t and twisty Jerez circuit had not come to pass. Mar lboro Yamaha 's Loris Capirossi was fo u rt h an d closi ng; with Fortuna Hon d a' s Alberto Pu ig just p ipp in g Ken n y Rober ts Jr . across the line. Robert s' teammate JeanMichel Bayle was a lone seventh. Th e race was a d isa st er fo r Luck y Stri ke Suzuki. ScottRussell pulled out o n ra ce m o rn ing as a -result of foot injuries sustaine d a week before whil e testing, and Daryl Beat tie first ran into th e g ravel a fte r mi ssin g h is brakin g point at the end o f the back s tra igh t soon after the start, then crashed one lap later after rejoining at the back. He sustain ed min or fractures in his right heel an d a lower-back vertebra, but hoped to be fit eno ugh to race in Mu gello in tw o wee ks time. Doriano Romboni had qualified hi s V-twin Aprilia on the front row, but he copied Beattie's maneuver at the end of the stra ight with front-fork troubles of his own , rejoinin g only to retir e. Japanese Grand Prix winner Norifumi Ab e also crashed at the same time and place, withou t serious injury. The 250cc class was again d ull and processional by comparison - a blessing, perhaps, because at least the fans stayed in thei r seats - and a d emonst ration of superiority with a third ru naway win in four races for Chesterfield Aprilia's Max Bia ggi. Th e d efend ing d ou bl e World Ch amp ion now lead s riva l Te tsu ya H a rad a by a m assive 30 poin ts. The Marlbo ro Yama ha rid er was a d ist ant ' second, after surviving another crash in practice at a track that he has been able to call his own for the past two years. Ralf Waldm ann had been second earlier on , then he gra du ally lost ground through the race. At the finish, he came u n der fie rce p r es sure fr om his HB H o n d a teamm at e Jurgen Fu chs, just fend ing off a last-lap attack. The best battle was for fifth, won at the las t gas p by Ben etton Honda rider Tohru Ukaw a from MX Onda Honda' s Luis d 'Antin. Frenchman Olivier Jacqu e wa s se ve n t h, losi n g tou ch with th e gro up after a slide in the closing laps . De fend in g champi on H aruch ik a Aok i jus tified h is "Ghost Rider" ni ckname by coming .ou t of the shadows to win a five-bike ph oto finish in a th rilling 125cc battle, in ch es ahea d o f Em ili o Alzarnora, Japan 's Noboru V eda, Italian bright hope Valentino Rossi and form er The Hondas 01 Alex Crlv llle (4), Michael Doohan (1) and Luca Cadalora (hidden) were th is close throughou1 the 500cc Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. Things changed at the end ... champion Kazuto Saka ta. Earlier, th e Spanish crowd had been di sappoint ed when veteran former multi-ch ampion Jorge Mart inez crashe d ou t while disputing the lead after qualifying on pole position. The opening round of th e Thunderbike championship was w on by inches by French Honda rider William Costes, over Yamaha-mounted Ad rien Morillas. 500cc GRAND PRIX Cad a lo ra m ad e th e early running, with Criville lined up behind him, then Barr os, Dooh an, Beattie and Romboni. Th e secon d tim e d own th e s tra igh t, Beattie hung in Doohan's draft, only to find him self rushi ng into the hairpin way too fas t. He straigh te ned up and shot across the gravel trap at a tangent, onl y to be followed a few yards farther on by Romboni, with Abe claiming later he'd been pu sh ed o ff line by the pair, wh ich caused him to fall. You might expect th e loss of three works bikes to leave a sa d ly depl eted race. In thi s vintage season they were hardly mi ssed, as Cri vill e firm ly past Cadalora on lap three, w ith Doohan closing up behind and Barros dropping ba ck. Doohan had to work at getting past the Italian. The first time he did it, on lap eight, Cadalora went back round th e outside, slamming th e d oor firmly on Doohan on th e sh a rp, right-hand

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